But that was not the case at all. In fact, the news on these new inks on English-speaking fora barely raised any brow. This is a sharp contrast with the passionate reactions new inks, particularly by Sailor provoked not so long ago.

Maybe the reasons are completely different. Maybe the colors of the “Blue Revolution” were not attractive. Maybe 50 ml inkwells were too big… All this is, so far, mere speculation, but I also think that the ink market has grown into a bubble of colors and prices.

6 comments:

Bruno, thanks as always for sharing information on new inks coming out of Japan. I imagine most people don't mind the size of the ink bottle as long as it makes sense for the price. Truly, I think the Nakabayashi inks just aren't very interesting—blue inks that look slightly different depending on the size of the nib are already readily available from more accessible retailers. The packaging is beautiful, but I don't think that's reason enough for most people.

You make an interesting point --those blue inks might not be that revolutionary--, but in the past any new ink release made waves in the community. Furthermore, I do not hear much noise about the 100 new colors of Sailor's Ink Studio line...

The ink market is very profitable and it is only logical that more companies wanted to cash their well known and well used knowledge. But is the market willing to take that much offer of new inks and colors?

Lamy did not seem that active in the ink market. The exception was the yearly color associated to the yearly edition of a Safari and of an AL star pens.